This was a short trip done in July. The idea was to just kick back, rest, read and recharge. The choice of Pangot was made due to one simple reason, we wanted to take a dog with us and only a handful of resorts in India are pet-friendly. Thus we wound up at The Nest Cottages and it was a lovely experience.
Pangot is around 15 kilometers away from Nainital. If you approach Nainital from the Kaladhungi side, once you reach Badapatthar (there is a checkpost of sorts there) take the left turn instead of going straight into Nainital. The village itself is tiny, surrounded by woods everywhere and there are only a handful of resorts, which means that tourists are rarely found.
From Delhi it is a 300 kilometer run and the best route is to take Delhi – Moradabad – Rampur – Bazpur – Kaladhungi – Pangot. We started early, around 5:30 in the morning, and after a leisurely drive through a very rainy Uttarakhand, we reached Pangot in time for lunch.
The food at The Nest is strictly vegetarian, but the quality of the food (with ingredients picked up from what they grow around the property) is divine. Since rest was the only item on the agenda we did nothing else other than to walk the dog, sit and watch it rain over many cups of tea and pakodas.
